Sun Coverage

The $45 million that the governor claimed was headed to Nevada to help pay for a maglev rail project won’t arrive any time soon, federal officials said Wednesday, and in fact Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is working behind the scenes to divert the funding to state road and highway projects.

How $45 million seemingly slipped from the maglev project’s grasp remains a bit of a mystery.

Reid’s office said it is no secret that the majority leader is trying to reroute the $45 million — money he secured for the state in a congressional earmark. Reid switched his longtime support for maglev to a competing rail line earlier this year.

But his office insisted the senator did not ask the federal Transportation Department to slow-walk the project.

In a letter to Gibbons dated Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote that the governor’s announcement that funding was coming was mistaken.

“It has come to my attention that you were recently quoted in the media as saying that Nevada expected to receive funds this week,” LaHood wrote. “If such a statement was made, it is not accurate.”

This launched Gibbons on the attack, saying that the train project is being blocked at a time when Nevadans need work.

“This is a jobs and tourism project. Why would anybody be standing in the way of that?” Gibbons spokesman Dan Burns said. “We did not expect roadblocks from Sen. Reid, the Federal Rail Administration and the Secretary of Transportation.”

Reid lobbed a counter-attack from Washington to Carson City.

“It is the height of hypocrisy for the governor to say that Sen. Reid is blocking $45 million that Reid got for the state,” Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.

Reid announced earlier this year he was abandoning the magnetic levitation project, saying the group had taken too long to bring it to fruition. Reid instead threw his support behind the competing DesertXpress train system and made no secret of his intent to shift the $45 million to the state’s road and highway needs.

(DesertXpress is backed by Republican Sig Rogich, a Reid ally and former Gibbons adviser, and has not asked for federal grants. It will likely seek government loans.)

“Nevada is still going to get the $45 million but the money’s not going to go to maglev,” Summers said. “It’s going to other transportation projects and it’s going to put Nevadans to work.”

The federal Transportation Department attempted to stay out of the dispute.

The transportation secretary said the department is prioritizing its workload and could not estimate when it would complete its review of the maglev train proposal. The department declined to provide additional information about the status of the review.

Nevada’s Transportation Department officials said they were under the impression that the federal review was moving forward. State and federal officials met earlier this year in Washington, and the state said it was told the project was a priority for the federal department.

The state said it submitted its paperwork in the spring and e-mails this summer showed the review was under way. Kent Cooper, assistant director of engineering at the Nevada Transportation Department, said he expected the federal approval would have come sooner. “We would have thought it would have happened by now,” he said.

But Cooper acknowledged the state never received anything in writing from the feds estimating when the money might arrive.

One issue has been maglev backers’ ability to provide $11 million in matching funding. Reid grew frustrated with the group when it was unable to produce the money in a timely manner.

But the maglev group insists it has raised the money, and the state responded to an April letter from the group indicating the match had been secured.

Burns, the governor’s spokesman, said it was a “stunning coincidence” that the transportation secretary now cannot say when the money will be available.

He acknowledged the governor jumped the gun in announcing last week that the money was on the way. It was “premature” and perhaps the news release should have said the state “will receive” the funds, Burns said.

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Figures, the usual suspects want to make this into another Reid hating rant. Too bad for them that their hero Gibbons wasn't telling the truth on Maglev. And while I actually do support Maglev over DesertXpress, Gibbons is doing so for all the wrong reasons (basically, he just has a grudge against Reid & Rogich) and he's NOT helping by lying about federal funding.

Though maglev is a smarter option, it'll never get built. Desert express is pointless with a terminal at Victorville, and will be failure. Just look at the LV monorail. If it had been built out all the way from McCarren to downtown it would have suceeded financially. It's current service length doomed it to be a boondoggle.

Don't you love the way Senators pretend the federal treasury is their private piggy bank to use for re election. This garbage is what John McCain says is the corruption of Congress and Reid is showing just how corrupt he is.

Why would you fight to get the money ear marked and then divert the money to other projects? AAAHHH, our government at work and you think they are supposed to be working for "US" !!!!!!!!!

Nice Job Harry..

Oh and really that $800 billion stimulas package? There was over $400 billion in "pork" placed in it..what if they really put the money where it was supposed to go and be used for -- imagine how the economy would be back running again and we would be improving !!! Hey, what do I know, I am just a typical american - NOT a politician !!

Ok. If this will not coming from the Federal Fund,then,I will not give comment. Now,It is not practical to spend govt.money to compete with a private funded projects desert express. Let us not unite to have one project than start at two,then ended up as one(just imagine running two competing trains in the same route, this is a record breaking just to satisfy our ego.) Let us stop and give up our ego in name of politics. Desert express if desert express, maglev if maglev. $45M is not even enough to finish the project. Diverting it to another project for the State of Nevada (for as long as it is for transportaion improvement is also ok, it will create jobs any way). Hayyy. Money is hard to earn but easy to spend, be wise, be practical before its too late.

Sorry, I will paraphrase again my sentence. " Let us unite to have one project, than, starting with two projects and ended up as one.(This the point that I would like to arrive in my comment at 8:45am)

Mag-lev and high speed rail are just the latest fad in a long line of expensive projects that waste money (while never meeting any of the original expectations). The projects are great for rich (politically connected) people though.

This whole thing stinks. In January Reid was all over the Maglev idea. He backdoored 8 billion into the stimulus for it. Rogich made him a deal, if you back my(desertxpress) I'll back your campaign. Reid jumped ship. Isn't it interesting they both have the same pricetag as well. Its all about money,power and greed, and you all think Harry is doing you a favor.Gibbons is just a loser.And who will get the contract for the Californis portion using Nevadas stimulus? And Californians won't spend that money in Nevada either. How is that helping us? And then we Nevadans have to pay it back??? Yep, Harry is all for Nevadans. I keep asking, whats in Victorville?